UniCredit Takes Over Commerbank, Scholz: “Hostile Act”. Possible Scenarios That Make Berlin Tremble
There Germany is trying in every way to stop UniCredit which is literally scaling the second German bank. The Italian group has in fact already risen to 21% in Commerzbank and asked the ECB permission to climb up to 29.9%just a hair’s breadth away from a takeover bid. Anyone who expected a U-turn on Commerzbank by UniCredit, or at least a wait-and-see position, – reports Il Sole 24 Ore – was left baffled. Because despite the announced halt to the sale of new shares by the German government – which holds 12% of Commerzbank – UniCredit shows that it does not want to give up. And indeed it raises its stake and goes up to 21% of the target bank, although it finds itself up against a German wall: “Unfriendly attackshostile takeovers, are never a good thing for banks,” German Chancellor Olaf said yesterday. Scholz.
Yesterday’s news is that the Italian bank has communicated that it has submitted application to the ECB to go up beyond the 10% bar from the current 9%, and go “up to 29.9% in Commerzbank”. And in the meantime – continues Il Sole – it announced that yesterday it had subscribed “financial instruments”, or options, equal to approximately 11.5% of the share capital of the German bank. Translated: the overall position of Piazza Gae Aulenti in Commerzbank has “reached about 21%”. This is a “potential” participation: once the ECB were to authorize UniCredit to increase its stake to 30%, the participation and the related underlying equity will technically be in the hands of the Italian bank. CEO Andrea Orcel but he wants keep your hands free to protect itself from any eventuality. And it communicates that “the majority of UniCredit’s economic exposure is Coverage object“.
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